Guest Hollow’s Language Arts Curriculum
Guest Hollow’s Language Arts is an engaging language arts curriculum that is designed to encourage and inspire students to love language arts. Our language arts curriculum contains customizable elements to make a great fit for all types of learners and approaches language arts subjects through diverse and colorful resources instead of a pile of boring workbooks.
We’ve been told over and over that students who previously did not enjoy writing and other language arts studies are now asking to do Guest Hollow Language Arts at the beginning of the day with enthusiasm and smiles!
Prerequisites: The ability to read and write at approximately a 2nd grade level
Approximate Daily Time Commitment:
30 min. – 1.5 or 2 hours a day depending on the amount of activities and books chosen and the age of the student
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Grade Level / Age
Guest Hollow’s Language Arts Curriculum is suggested for:
● Grades 2-6
● Approximate ages
7-12
What You Get
Guest Hollow’s Language Arts comes with:
✔ A printable PDF schedule
✔ An editable schedule in Microsoft Word format
✔ Access to an online version of the schedule*
*Access to the online version of Guest Hollow’s Language Arts Curriculum schedule is provided as a courtesy and is not guaranteed due to various potential circumstances.
I’d like to see the book & resource list!
Click here to see the required books and resources for Guest Hollow’s Language Arts Curriculum.
Why choose Guest Hollow’s Language Arts Curriculum?
Guest Hollow’s Language Arts is literature-based, gentle, fun, and flexible!
Our language arts schedule is a little different than most homeschool language arts curricula in a variety of ways. Some of the key differences:
Love language arts!
Guest Hollow’s Language Arts Curriculum
Guest Hollow’s Language Arts covers these language arts subjects:
Click on a tab to find out more!
We’ve scheduled in Beowulf’s Grammar as the grammar *spine for our language arts curriculum.
*A spine book is used as the backbone of a study.
Beowulf’s Grammar must be purchased separately! Students LOVE Beowulf’s Grammar. We’ve never seen parents and students rave and gush about a grammar program as they do with Beowulf’s Grammar!
We’ve also scheduled in colorful and fun books, videos, songs, and more to help students relate to the concepts they are learning and to help build retention. Grammar has never been this fun!
The writing portion of this schedule is intended to be a fit for both reluctant and enthusiastic writers. We’ve had to teach both types of students during our 20+ years of homeschooling and have used our experiences to design a program that is gentle, and steers clear of the usual and more structured type of resources. We’ve put together a very relaxed year of writing with activities designed to take pressure off of students, and to instead slowly nurture a comfortable relationship with pen and paper! This year’s writing instruction can be tailored to a variety of ages and abilities.
Some writing topics covered this year:
- Copywork and dictation
- Narration
- Sentence writing
- Journaling
- Letter writing
- Creative writing
- Poetry
- Story components (setting, characters, plot, conflict, etc.)
- Dialogue
- Opinion essays
- Writing a research report
- Creating comics
- Similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia
- Writing and performing a puppet show
- And more!
Handwriting also isn’t specifically scheduled, but it’s an optional component that can be added in easily. The scheduled copywork and dictation exercises are a good opportunity to practice handwriting!
Check out the resource list for our handwriting practice suggestion. Instructions for this addition are included in the schedule. A drawing book is added in to help students work on the fine motor skills necessary for good penmanship.
For spelling we’ve scheduled in two choices.
The first choice is a classic book that uses dictation and copywork as a teaching method instead of employing the busywork found in many other spelling programs. Don’t be fooled though, this is not just a spelling book! It’s an important component to this year’s writing and grammar instruction. While using this book your student will:
- Learn spelling quickly and easily!
- Be trained to picture sentences in his mind (via dictation exercises)
- Build a greater attention span
- Practice the mechanics of writing, grammar, and punctuation
- Practice proper sentence structure and emulate quality writing
- Have the opportunity to practice penmanship (optional)
Students will also get to play some fun spelling games!
The 2nd choice uses the Orton-Gillingham approach to spelling and is mastery-based. This approach focuses on why words are spelled the way they are by teaching phonograms, rules, and spelling patterns. It’s also multisensory with visual, auditory, and kinesthetic elements.
This section of the schedule introduces students to poets, poetry, and memorization skills. Poetry is an often overlooked and important component to a language arts curriculum! We’ve included a few articles for you to read (linked in the schedule) to understand the life-long benefits of reading and memorizing poetry.
Students will learn vocabulary while learning Greek and Latin roots. When a student learns a root, he can more easily figure out the meanings of unfamiliar words! The scheduled Word Roots books will add hundreds of words to your students’ vocabulary and greater depth to their thinking and writing.
Students will also learn how to play Rummy Roots, a favorite game of many homeschoolers!
Students are exposed to some terrific and memorable stories that your family will remember for years to come. Reading is approached through a method designed to get students to LOVE reading and to curl up with good books not because they have to, but because they want to!
Our program doesn’t cover phonics, but gives suggestions in the instructor’s guide and the resource list for those of you who have students who still need to cover some phonics instruction. Phonics can be easily added in with an additional 5-10 minutes a day.
Our program is so flexible! You can add or remove any of the components to make every facet of language arts work for your student(s)!
Does this curriculum come with _____________?
✘ books?
No, you need to purchase the other scheduled language arts books separately. Learn more.
☑ a printable book list?
Yes. We provide a book list with a handy checklist to help you plan what you want to buy or borrow and in what format. We also let you know when each book is scheduled in, so you can arrange to check out books from the library before you need them!
☑ a schedule?
Yes. You get the same weekly schedule in 3 different formats: PDF, Microsoft Word, and online*. Just open it up and you are ready to learn!
*Access to the online version of the curriculum schedule is provided as a courtesy and is not guaranteed due to various potential circumstances on our end and yours including but not limited to various computer, device, and internet configurations.
✘ a supply list?
No. Supplies for this curriculum are things commonly found at home such as scissors, crayons, glue, etc.
✘ a teacher’s manual?
No. The language arts schedule is all you need! However, Beowulf’s Grammar (which is scheduled in for grammar instruction and purchased separately) does come with an optional teacher’s manual.
✘ tests?
No. There are no tests with this curriculum.
☑ a workbook?
No. You must purchase Beowulf’s Grammar (which is scheduled in for grammar instruction) separately. You also get access to The Modern Speller for FREE via a link (but we don’t provide it via our website).
Gallery of Photos From Real Families Using Guest Hollow’s Language Arts:
Click or tap to see a sample!
Take a look at a week from the online version of the schedule here.
Take a look at a sample of the printable schedule here:
Want to know how to use the Guest Hollow PDF Schedule or the editable Microsoft version of our schedule? Go here! (This page gives lots of insight as to how our schedules work!)
Have a question about printing your Guest Hollow schedule and materials? We cover that, too!
F.A.Q. for Guest Hollow’s Homeschool
Language Arts Schedule
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Reviews: See what our customers have to say!
If you’ve used Guest Hollow’s Language Arts, we invite you to write a review and leave your thoughts about our curriculum. Scroll down to the review box below the following customer reviews. We look forward to seeing your feedback!
Christa Farmer (verified owner) –
I have loved this program! My son is in the 7th grade and struggles with SPD issues. This is the first time I’ve seen him engaged in and enjoying a language arts program. The assignments provide enough of a blend of visual, hands on, and written work that I feel it reinforces what is being taught very well. We have skipped over a few of the books that seemed a little ‘young’ for him. But most of the books work great no matter the age (I still love a good picture book!) He has enjoyed this so much that we’re looking at other GH curricula for his future! Thanks Guest Hollow!
Lacy S. (verified owner) –
This is the most amazing, fun, and thorough language arts program I have ever come across, and I am a curriculum junkie! The book choices are phenomenal, there’s plenty of hands on activities, and there’s so much to choose from it’s a huge feast! My only regret is not finding this sooner for my oldest. For my youngest I will be using this for her 5th-6th grade years. That will give us plenty of time to go through everything and savor it!
Groovy 1 (verified owner) –
This program is amazing! We used it for my older daughter starting in second grade. It was a huge hit! It is such an incredibly thorough program that we ended up using it two years in a row. Some of the pieces we didn’t use the first year, but did the second year like From the Roots Up. Other things we skipped entirely, like poetry. My daughter really enjoyed the art pieces that were part of the program. We ended up using all four of the books of The Illustration School series through both years. My daughter now writes and illustrates stories for fun, and it is directly because of this program. I really can not thank you enough for this absolutely stunning program!
Shawna Koch (verified owner) –
I have been absolutely amazed at this curriculum! I have a 4th grader who is 9 , wants to be moving nonstop, and his least favorite part of the day is school. He has done so well with the Language Arts program. We have definitely made it our own (we add novels) but the resources, books, and options of assignments have been amazing! The curriculum has a way of turning boring concepts into fun, interactive learning. Don’t get overwhelmed just start using it and you’ll figure out what works for you! I was so hesitant to try this and I am so glad I gave it a chance.
Jacqueline Ridge (verified owner) –
Incredible, incredible, incredible! This curriculum took my 8&10-year-old kiddos from complaining when I pulled out LA books (and sometimes even crying!) to cheerful, excited, and curious learners, eager to jump into another day of fun with Beowulf. My eldest adores the time capsule and her young sister can’t wait for the drawing prompts, but they both like just about everything with this program. No two days are the same, which is a major plus for my family. We learn together and it’s full of laughter and running away on various tangents to dig deeper into something that catches their attention. We will be Guest Hollow users for the rest of our homeschool days. Thank you for making our homeschool life SO MUCH BETTER!